All posts tagged United Kingdom

When the tide went out, the U.K.’s economy was revealed to be utterly naked.

It was overly reliant on financial services, consumers, state spending and debt. It was far too short of export champions of any kind, let alone manufacturers that could compete toe-to-toe with Asia’s giants.

Cruelly revealed in all its squalor as a bloated financial sector with the stunted relic of a national economy attached, here, rather than in the U.S., was the poster child for irresponsible Western complacency.

Ever since, the country has been engaged in an achingly pathetic search for new growth. It hasn’t worked too well so far, to put it mildly, with four quarters of GDP contraction logged out of the last five.

If the world financial crisis were a fisherman he’d be the laughing stock of the river bank. For so far he’s only managed to catch a few national tiddlers; Iceland, Ireland and now Dubai have been hauled out and put in the keep net. Then there’s Greece, Latvia and Ukraine, all of which have nibbled his bait with a will and may soon be ripe for landing.

This is all very nasty for them, of course. The wretched countries lie there, gasping, not knowing whether investors will toss them back to swim another day or flour and deep-fry them. But, with all due respect, this little shoal is no great loss to overall fish stocks. Investors are increasingly wondering when the Grim Angler might catch a real whopper.

And the big fish probably most at risk is that ancient species, the United Kingdom. [Read the full article over the jump.]